“In this photo, I’m examining some of the animals in my care. I work as an ecologist at the St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory, which is sited on a small island off the coast of mainland Singapore.

The tank I’m leaning over contains sand-filtered seawater pumped directly from the ocean. The baskets are kept afloat by air-filled tubes and contain white short-spined sea urchins (Salmacis sphaeroides). We keep the urchins like this so we can keep track of individuals and reduce the spread of disease.

My work aims to understand the ecology of the sea urchins and other marine invertebrates and promote their conservation. My colleagues and I want to gauge how the creatures react to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, salinity and the pH of the water.

We also host threatened species to guard against extinction: if there was an event that hurt a wild population, I’m fairly confident we could renew the natural stock.

Finally, we’re exploring how we can use aquaculture to combat damage caused by the wildlife trade. Some marine species in southeast Asia, including sea urchins, are harvested from the wild for aquariums. Perhaps the animal groups we keep here could be sold into the aquarium trade directly instead.

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